James Brun "J.B." Johnson earned the Distinguished Service Cross for actions in a battle that killed him. E. Fay Jones flew against Japanese forces near the Solomon Islands and went on to become an internationally acclaimed architect. Paul Noland served in the Battle of the Bulge and then spent his life serving his community.
These three men are among the 15 to be inducted into the Arkansas Military Veterans' Hall of Fame in a ceremony Saturday in Little Rock. Veterans are chosen for their "their valorous military service to our country" and for their "combined military and civilian service to our community, state and nation."
J.B. Johnson, E. Fay Jones and Noland will be inducted posthumously.
EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM
The Distinguished Service Cross is the nation's second-highest combat award. 1st Lt. J.B. Johnson of Fort Smith earned the award for extraordinary heroism while serving as a first lieutenant commanding a combat engineer platoon in Korea in 1951 with the 1st Cavalry Division.
Correction
A previous version of this story misspelled James Brun "J.B." Johnson's middle name and surname. The errors have been corrected.
He led his platoon across a river to relieve another American company under enemy fire. His platoon then faced heavy artillery, mortar and automatic weapons fire from the enemy.
"He was wounded while he rallied the troops," said his son, John Jones of Fort Smith. "He shielded a man from a grenade. When he rallied his troops, they captured the hill because of his efforts."
Jones was wounded twice. "He continued the attack against the enemy until mortally wounded by enemy mortar fragments," his biography from the Hall of Fame reads. "His heroic actions so inspired his men that the vastly superior-numbered enemy was defeated."
J.B. Johnson grew up in Fort Smith, his son related. He started work toward a degree in civil engineering at the University of Arkansas but enlisted as a student and served with U.S. Calvary in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He stayed in the Reserves and also served in Korea. In addition to the Distinguished Service Cross, he earned two Purple Heart Medals and the Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal.
John Jones never knew his father. J.B. was killed in April 1951, and John was born in September of that year. J.B. was 28 when he was killed, John Jones said. His mother was 24 and never remarried.
During the year John Jones spent preparing his father's nomination to the Hall of Fame, "I found out a lot of things I didn't know," he said. "I knew he was decorated, but I did not know about the Distinguished Service Cross. Because of his actions, his men nominated him for the Medal of Honor (the highest military honor)."
FRIENDS LOST
Most people recognize Eunine Fay Jones for his work after the war. He practiced architecture from an office in Fayetteville from 1954 to 1998. He designed 218 projects and earned the American Institute of Architects' highest honor, the AIA Gold Medal, in 1990, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
"His award is for public service in architecture," according to a biography from the Hall of Fame. Jones also served as a professor and head of the UA architecture school, which was named the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design in his honor in 2009. He died in August 2003.
When World War II began, Jones enlisted in the U.S. Navy, according to the Hall of Fame. The lieutenant junior grade flew multi-engine aircraft as a reconnaissance pilot against Japanese forces in the South Pacific, near the Solomon Islands. He attained the rank of lieutenant naval aviator.
"The Navy was a big part of his life that he never brought out," said Jones' daughter, Jean Cameron "Cami" Jones of Austin, Texas. But he did talk about his friends, with whom he gathered many times after the war. Through stories told by the men, Cami Jones discovered her father was a real prankster, and she enjoyed his wonderful sense of humor.
"The part he didn't talk about were the friends that he did lose," Cami Jones said. "He lost some very good friends. That left a real impression on him."
Cami Jones said the wartime experience spurred her father's work ethic. "When he got back, he thought the best thing to do was get back to work."
Cami Jones also learned a lot about her father while completing his nomination. "There were many articles about him," she said. "I love the quotes about him. I was amazed at how he couldn't believe he won the [Gold Medal]. He didn't think he would have a chance at winning the award.
"I think he would have really enjoyed receiving [the Hall of Fame induction]."
COMMUNITY SERVANT
"He was in a pretty tough situation," Brian Noland of Little Rock said of his father, Paul. "He was in some very fierce battles. He lost two commanding officers in one day. He probably deserved the Purple Heart. He took on shrapnel but didn't go back because he'd probably get shot by a German sniper."
Pfc. Paul Noland served as a light mortar crewman in the Army in World War II, participating in three campaign battles in Europe, according to a Hall of Fame biography.
He served in the Battle of the Bulge, just before the Allied forces got into Berlin, Brian Noland shared. His father's troop also liberated a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia and monitored the camp in 1945-46. He earned three Bronze Battle Stars, the World War II Victory Medal and the Combat Infantry Man and Expert Infantryman Badges.
"I wish he could be here [for the induction ceremony]," Brian Noland said. "He was very proud of his service."
Paul Noland's military experience shaped the rest of his life also. "He was just happy to get away from it," Brian Noland shared. "He was alive when so many of his friends died in the conflict. He came back and wanted to make a better place in this world.
"Once he got away from the military, he realized how fortunate he was, and made it a life of service."
"His award is also for public service," reads the Hall of Fame biography.
Paul Noland was an agriculture professor for 43 years at the University of Arkansas and retired in 1994 as the head of the animal sciences department, according to his obituary provided by his son. Paul Noland died Dec. 31, a loss still fresh in Brian Noland's heart. In 1995, Paul Noland was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame.
"He touched the lives of hundreds of students," Brian Noland said.
Paul Noland served 13 years on the Fayetteville Board of Directors and as mayor for five years. He was a member of the Fayetteville Lions club for more than 50 years, district chairman of Boy Scouts of America and an active 65-year member of Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.
"Some might chuckle at the honor of having one's name on a sewage treatment plant, but the one on the city's east side is formally known as the Paul R. Noland Wastewater Treatment Plant," reads a January editorial memorializing Noland in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "He worked hard to get it built, and imagine what kind of limitations Fayetteville would have faced without adequate facilities. He knew it's not just about flushing toilets; it's about the capacity to grow as a community."
Noland moved his family to rural Panama for two years in 1955, working on an agricultural research mission sponsored by the university and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He and his wife, Eunice, returned to Panama many times over the next 60 years, and in 2009, the Panamanian government awarded him the country's highest civilian honor, the Vasco Nunez de Balboa Award.
"[His parents] were the ones who followed up," Brain Noland said. "They maintained a really good relationship with the people in Panama."
But Brian Noland's father wasn't the only one serving the country during World War II. His mother (who died in May) spent her time during breaks in college working at a military plant in her hometown of Decatur, Ill. Paul Noland said she didn't know it at the time, but she was working on pieces of the atomic bomb, part of the Manhattan Project.
NAN Our Town on 11/03/2016